Epilogue...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Picking up the pieces
Sometimes, it's just not fun being the bad guys. No matter what the recruitment posters say.

A wet sucking sound broke woke Toad up and he opened his eyes cautiously. Huh. That ceiling was familiar. Metal. Metal floor, metal walls... yeah, they were back at the base. Where the metal roamed free and the rest of them tried to stay out of its way. He winced as he twitched an arm, skin protesting the abuse of motion. He smelled like flambéed frog, damn it and his skin felt as though it might split if he moved. He sighed and closed his eyes again, deciding not to budge an inch until someone made him.

A sharp kick in the ribs was his cue, and he groaned piteously in protest. "That hurts, y'know." Cracking open one eye he looked up - Mystique was glaring down at him, her skin dark and already pearling from the signs of second degree burns. "Shut up. Pick up what guts Creed has left oozing out of his idiot body and stuff them back in and keep them there until his healing factor kicks in," she rasped furiously, trembling in reaction.

And looked down the hallway where Magneto had stalked off, the doors to his office melding shut until nothing remained but a blank metallic wall.